Interior Design
On Tuesday, I posted on the latest mission failure of the Interior Department. Apparently Congress decided it was time to look into these failures because they are costing the federal government billions of dollars. From today's NY Times:
The Government Accountability Office, the watchdog agency for Congress, is beginning a broad investigation into potential deficiencies in how the government collects billions of dollars in royalties from companies that produce oil and gas on federal territory. The inquiry is being done at the request of the Republican-led House Government Reform Committee.
The investigation reflects a growing anger in Congress about the Interior Department’s vast oil and gas leasing program, under which the government collects as much as $10 billion a year on oil and gas produced on federal land and in federal waters.
The agency has been under fire since February for errors on offshore leases that could cost the government more than $7 billion over the next five years, as well as for its sluggish response.
Four auditors responsible for scrutinizing royalties recently contended that their superiors blocked them from challenging millions of dollars in deliberate underpayments.
In September, the inspector general of the Interior Department, Earl C. Devaney, told lawmakers that top Interior officials had encouraged a culture of cronyism, ethical lapses and poor management. “Short of crime, anything goes,” he testified.
Democratic lawmakers have argued for months that the Interior Department under President Bush has been devoted almost entirely to serving the oil and gas industry, at the expense of American taxpayers. [Emphasis added]
A couple of things about this article nagged at me. First of all, the primary emphasis in the whole article is that it is Republicans who are calling for the investigation. The throw-away paragraph about the Democrats (the emphasized portion above)was obviously tacked on for "balance". I suppose that's justified in the sense that given the current make-up of Congress, it really isn't news until the Republicans address a problem.
The other point is that the list of problems with the Interior Department have all been documented by the press, including the NY Times, over the past year. Some solid investigative journalism finally got a rise out of Congress, which is charged with oversight of such agencies. While the timing of the call for such an investigation is suspicious (less than a week before the elections), it is welcome.
What would also be welcome is the press doing its job on other issues as well, and not just before an election.
The Government Accountability Office, the watchdog agency for Congress, is beginning a broad investigation into potential deficiencies in how the government collects billions of dollars in royalties from companies that produce oil and gas on federal territory. The inquiry is being done at the request of the Republican-led House Government Reform Committee.
The investigation reflects a growing anger in Congress about the Interior Department’s vast oil and gas leasing program, under which the government collects as much as $10 billion a year on oil and gas produced on federal land and in federal waters.
The agency has been under fire since February for errors on offshore leases that could cost the government more than $7 billion over the next five years, as well as for its sluggish response.
Four auditors responsible for scrutinizing royalties recently contended that their superiors blocked them from challenging millions of dollars in deliberate underpayments.
In September, the inspector general of the Interior Department, Earl C. Devaney, told lawmakers that top Interior officials had encouraged a culture of cronyism, ethical lapses and poor management. “Short of crime, anything goes,” he testified.
Democratic lawmakers have argued for months that the Interior Department under President Bush has been devoted almost entirely to serving the oil and gas industry, at the expense of American taxpayers. [Emphasis added]
A couple of things about this article nagged at me. First of all, the primary emphasis in the whole article is that it is Republicans who are calling for the investigation. The throw-away paragraph about the Democrats (the emphasized portion above)was obviously tacked on for "balance". I suppose that's justified in the sense that given the current make-up of Congress, it really isn't news until the Republicans address a problem.
The other point is that the list of problems with the Interior Department have all been documented by the press, including the NY Times, over the past year. Some solid investigative journalism finally got a rise out of Congress, which is charged with oversight of such agencies. While the timing of the call for such an investigation is suspicious (less than a week before the elections), it is welcome.
What would also be welcome is the press doing its job on other issues as well, and not just before an election.
Labels: Interior Department
posted by Diane at 4:09 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home